


Unspoken Words

by Starfleet_Command_Unit_Bi



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22571752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starfleet_Command_Unit_Bi/pseuds/Starfleet_Command_Unit_Bi
Summary: Eist learns what Calanthe's unspoken words are.
Relationships: Calanthe Fiona Riannon/Eist Tuirseach
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	Unspoken Words

Eist knew from his first meeting with Calanthe of Cintra that she rarely said what she was thinking. Of course her words were almost always harsh and tough, what anyone would expect from a queen who had spent her entire life fighting, but they were tempered, only said when it didn’t endanger her kingdom to do so, and never as cutting as he expected her thoughts were. 

When he first proposed, a week into their knowing each other, she had laughed:

“I suppose Skelligen humour differs from Cintra.”

It meant: “I can’t imagine why you thought that would work, so obviously it was a joke.”

When he proposed the second time, after a year of knowing each other, she had laughed again:

“Quite committed to the joke, aren’t we, Eist?”

It meant: “I didn’t realise you were fucking serious and we both know that’s not how this works.”

After his third proposal, there had been no laughter, just a stern look and firm words:

“The joke is getting old now.”

It meant: “I would say yes if I could, but the world still hasn’t changed, so we have to move on.”

After their marriage, which was, technically, Eist’s fourth proposal, he became even more adept at reading between the lines of what she said. When ambassador’s came, he learnt when insults words meant that she wanted to leave, he learnt when her jabs at people meant they had already made their point and she would agree if they shut up. He learnt when she said things to Pavetta, they weren’t always as harsh as they sounded to strangers’ ears. 

When she said, four months into their marriage, after he’d made a joke when they were discussing battleship plans:

“You can be a real pain in the ass sometimes, do you know that?”

He replied: 

“I love you too, my darling.”

And that was that. 

Rarely did Calanthe use the actual words she meant. In court, no one used the actual words they meant, but his wife had perfected it to an art form and it meant he was always finding the second message. Eist fell into the pattern of it so easily that, a few years later, when he was teaching Ciri all about the stars, the young child cradled in her lap, Calanthe sat by his side, she said the words:

“I am off to bed, my darlings, I love you both.”

He nearly dropped his granddaughter.

Ciri was practically falling asleep the whole evening, tired out by the feast from earlier, and barely reacted. Calanthe was always most honest with her granddaughter, rarely hiding her words, and Eist knew the girl was growing up with more than enough love. It was the first time he had heard the real words falling from her lips.

She had noticed his reaction, rolling her eyes with all the affection in the world, and playfully cuffed him on the back of his head. This time it was his reply that would go unspoken.


End file.
